Don't forget to pray and fast for peace in the
Middle East (esp. Syria) tomorrow

Prayer and fasting will be offered all day tomorrow from millions around the world, and the Pope will be leading a vigil in St. Peter's Square at 7pm local time.

To robust applause from the gathered faithful, Pope Francis called Sunday for a day of prayer and fasting over the violence in Syria.

Devoting the totality of his weekly remarks in St. Peter's Square to the civil war in Syria, Francis invited "all men of good will" to join with Catholics on September 7 to take part in the prayer and fast.

He condemned in strong and personal terms the recent use of of chemical weapons.

"I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart," Francis said. "There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which is inescapable!"

The pontiff urged a peaceful ending to the conflict. "Never has the use of violence brought peace in its wake." the pope said, his voice rising. "War begets war, violence begets violence."

In recent days the United States, Britain and France have had high profile debates about the merits of military intervention in Syria.

Britain's parliament dealt a blow to Prime Minister David Cameron's desire for military action.

In the United States, President Barack Obama announced his intention to get congressional approval for any military involvement.

The French government is expected to discuss the matter early next week.

While Francis did not mention any of those efforts specifically, he called on the "international community to make every effort to promote clear proposals for peace in that country without further delay, a peace based on dialogue and negotiation."

On September 7, he said, people will gather at St. Peter's Square from 7 p.m. to midnight, while other churches hold similar community events.

"Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace" he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/01/world/pope-syria---Me? I'm the king of the twentieth century. I'm the bogeyman. The villain.

#2WhereDidItGoPosted 9/6/2013 10:21:02 AM

Thanks for the reminder. For some reason I was thinking it was the 8th.---"The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason." - G.K. Chesterton

#3Moorish_IdolPosted 9/6/2013 11:18:16 AM

It'll be interesting to see if this does anything positive.

#4ThuggernautzPosted 9/6/2013 11:28:34 AM

Considering the "results" of another call to prayer, perhaps you shouldn't.

^ I remember that. Did they ever acknowledge the fact their prayer day / raindance didn't work?

#6Hustle KongPosted 9/6/2013 11:35:30 AM

You know, I used to think this type of activity was worse than useless, but I've since decided that having people think deeply about peace might at least hopefully help influence their actions and interactions.---Shooting Game never die.It prays that the clover of luck be always in your mind.

#7kozlo100Posted 9/6/2013 11:37:32 AM

What HK said.---Time flies like the wind, and fruit flies like a banana.

#8WhereDidItGoPosted 9/6/2013 11:57:00 AM

Hustle Kong posted...

You know, I used to think this type of activity was worse than useless, but I've since decided that having people think deeply about peace might at least hopefully help influence their actions and interactions.

Indeed, that is the subtle difference that is often overlooked when it comes to the purpose of prayer, and what separates the Pope's request from that of Perry. The common idea that prayer is something akin to magic really misses the heart of the practice. C.S. Lewis wrote a wonderful article on the efficacy of prayer, and one of my favorite paragraphs from it is this one.

"For up till now we have been tackling the whole question in the wrong way and on the wrong level. The very question “Does prayer work?” puts us in the wrong frame of mind from the outset. “Work”: as if it were magic, or a machine—something that functions automatically. Prayer is either a sheer illusion or a personal contact between embryonic, incomplete persons (ourselves) and the utterly concrete Person. Prayer in the sense of petition, asking for things, is a small part of it; confession and penitence are its threshold, adoration its sanctuary, the presence and vision and enjoyment of God its bread and wine. In it God shows Himself to us. That He answers prayers is a corollary—not necessarily the most important one—from that revelation. What He does is learned from what He is."---"The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has lost everything except his reason." - G.K. Chesterton